JERMAIN DEFOE can flex his perfectly formed muscles and shoulder the heavy weight of 50 years of history by ­helping to fire Spurs towards Premier League and European glory.

Tottenham striking coach Les Ferdinand believes the return of the beefed-up Defoe after a two-and-a-half-month absence with an ankle injury can prove a significant factor in the fortunes of a club which last finished champions of the top flight in 1961.

Defoe hardly needs a minder despite being 5ft 7ins but powerhouse Ferdinand, fifth in the all-time Premier League scoring list with 149 goals, is well-placed to talk up the qualities of the club’s most natural striker.

The gruelling, lengthy gym sessions Defoe, 28, underwent have merely added to his all-round strength and finishing finesse. And that was ably demonstrated by his instinctive double against FC Twente which crucially enabled Spurs to top their Champions League group.

That paved the way for last-16 clashes against seven-times champions AC Milan in February and March but, before then, there are vital Premier League fixtures to negotiate, including the Boxing Day match at Aston Villa.

Ferdinand, a League Cup winner with Spurs and the first player to score for six different Premier League clubs, said: “Jermain has definitely beefed up a bit. He takes a bit of a buffeting from defenders but he is strong enough to handle it all. For his size, he is immensely strong and can hold off defenders while waiting to bring others into play.

“Everyone knows how quick Jermain is but maybe not so many people realise how strong he is.”

The untimely ankle injury Defoe sustained in a Euro 2012 qualifier against Switzerland in September – after recording an emphatic hat-trick in the tie against Bulgaria just four days earlier – really rocked him back.

He has yet to score in the Premier League this season, despite three European goals, but can change games conclusively, as his second-half cameo in November’s memorable come-from-behind victory at Arsenal proved.

Defoe is closing in on a century of goals for Tottenham and Ferdinand has provided a positive sounding board and advice centre for those occasions he has endured a barren spell. The man who scored the Premier League’s 10,000th goal knows all about the rough and the smooth as a frontline striker.

Ferdinand said: “I’ve sat down and spoken to Jermain about hitting the target.

“The one thing I do know as a centre-forward is when you are not scoring goals, you start beating yourself up and wondering what is going on.

“So I asked him, ‘Look, are you getting chances?’. And he said, ‘Yeah Les, I’m just not taking them’.

“I said, ‘Well, I promise you, they will come. The time to worry is when you’re not getting in the position where you’re getting chances’.

“With Jermain back, it is like signing a new player. He is the out-and-out goalscorer every team needs if they want to be successful.

“Jermain can be a big player for us because of the lift team-mates get when they see his name on the team sheet.

“It boosts everyone and the others start saying, ‘JD is back... I don’t want to lose my place’. So that spurs you on a little bit harder.”

Tottenham have one of the most attack-minded teams in the Premier League, with Peter Crouch, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Defoe, Rafael van der Vaart and Robbie Keane all fighting for a regular starting place. But Defoe can offer up an unorthodox penalty-box poaching prowess which just cannot be taught.

And Ferdinand believes his darting runs and awareness have given him an extra, if not always appreciated, dimension. He said: “A lot of the fans watch what a lot of strikers do and they think, ‘Oh, that’s not very good’.

“But those runs across the line, those little darts, the change of speed, it’s wearing defenders down and dragging them away.

“Keep doing it for 90 minutes and that’s when you get those little half-chances.”

And that’s exactly what Tottenham need to turn into goals to bring them that success.

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